Autocleaning in food production

The objective of the project is to develop and market technology for in-line automatic cleaning in food processing, which will be novel in this field.  Food processors have increasingly called for technology for automatic cleaning, where the benefits would be:  (i) shorter time for cleaning, (ii) reduced labour, (iii) improved and more consistent cleaning, (iv) improved utilization of cleaning agents, water and energy, and (v) new possibilities for cleaning individual equipment without stopping other parts of the operation.  This project will be focused on the development of conveyors that are self-cleaning.

The three participants are:  A developer of food processing equipment, who will develop the technology, manufacture and sell the products; a research firm which will measure and evaluate the efficiency of the new technology, and a food processor who will contribute access to the production for tests and evaluation, as well as giving input into the development process as an end user.

The project is scheduled for two years, where tests and design of the first prototype wil take place in the first year, and the final design and more complete final tests will be concluded in the second year.  It is expected that the project will be a breakthrough in food processing hygiene, by incorporating self-cleaning features into conveyors, and this will result in the marketing of new products.  In the first ten years, following the project, it is anticipated that the total profit of the equipment developer from direct sales will be on the order of 150-200 Mkr. and the total accumulated savings of the end users will be around 800 Mkr.

Project manager

• Viggó Marteinsson
  Research Group Leader
  Tel.: 422 5135

Research field

• Food Safety, Environment and Genetics